Rahul wins Wayanad with record margin

Thiruvananthapuram, May 23 (IANS): Congress President Rahul Gandhi won Kerala's Wayanad seat - the second seat he contested in the 2019 polls - with a record margin of 431,770 votes.

Gandhi defeated his nearest rival P.P. Suneer of the Communist Party of India who secured 274,597 votes, while Gandhi got 706,367 votes.

This margin of victory is the highest in the state for any Lok Sabha constituency.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was the first person to announce the candidature of Gandhi expressed happiness at the huge victory .

"This result was a foregone conclusion , as right from the day his name was announced, we could sense that the people in Wayanad had accepted him. His visits to the constituency... first when he came to file his nomination and then for a day's campaign, really made every Congress worker excited," said Chandy.

"His presence as a candidate boosted the confidence of all the candidates and that's one reason, why we could register such a huge victory in Kerala," added Chandy.

In the 2014 polls, Congress candidate M.I. Shanawas won the seat with a margin of 20,970 votes. He passed away last year and since then the seat was lying vacant.

Gandhi, however, lost his traditional Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh, to Union Minister Smriti Irani, by over 50,000 votes.